Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry

Tools for Implementation

Charis M. Galanakis

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9780128037935
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biotechnology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation is an indispensable resource for the food industry to introduce innovations in the market, stand out from the competition and satisfy consumer demands. This reference reports the most trend advances of the food science, while providing insights and ideas to overcome limitations for their actual implementation in the industry. Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation fills the gap between strategy developers and technical R&D associates by interpreting the technological adequacy of innovative techniques with the reaction of related consumers. It deals with the interaction of academia and industry, describing innovation and long term R&D strategies to overcome bottlenecks during know-how transfer between these two sectors. - Reports the development of cooperative networks for the commercialization of new food products - Includes the concept of open innovation, denoting the particular issues that SMEs are facing during their innovation efforts and suggest respective innovation policies in the agrifood sector - Discusses the challenges of introducing innovations in traditional food products - Describes the sustainability problems and restrictions (safety and energy issues) of innovations in food processing and emerging technologies - Exploits the cutting-edge innovation cases of food science and their applications in the food industry - Addresses the observed problems and provides solutions to meet market and consumers' needs

Part C

Cutting Edge Innovation Areas in the Food Science

Outline

Chapter 9. Innovative Biobased Materials for Packaging Sustainability

Chapter 10. Development of Functional Foods

Chapter 11. Food Use for Social Innovation by Optimizing Food Waste Recovery Strategies

Chapter 12. Adoption of ICT Innovations in the Agri-Food Sector: An Analysis of French and Spanish Industries

Chapter 13. Implementation of Foodomics in the Food Industry

Chapter 9

Innovative Biobased Materials for Packaging Sustainability

K.G. Zinoviadou¹, M. Gougouli¹, and C.G. Biliaderis^{2 1}Perrotis College, American Farm School, Thessaloniki, Greece ²School of Agriculture, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

Food packaging is an integral and essential part of the food industry since it protects products from surrounding stress challenges, often of detrimental nature. Most of the currently used packaging plastics are produced from fossil resources because of the low cost and their advantageous properties such as lightness, flexibility, and sealability. However, increased use of petroleum-based packaging has led to major ecological problems due to their lack of biodegradability. In this context the use of biobased and biodegradable packaging recently has gained a considerable amount of interest. It can be defined as packaging that contains raw materials originating from agricultural and marine renewable sources. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview on the recent scientific advances and applications in the field of biopolymer based packaging.

Keywords

Antimicrobial packaging; Biobased packaging; Biocomposites; Bioplastics; Biopolymers; Edible packaging

9.1. Introduction

After only a small decline due to the financial crisis in 2008, the production of plastics increased continuously and in 2012 it reached the value of 288 Mt. In Europe, packaging applications are the largest application sector for the plastics industry, representing 39.4% of the total plastics demand (Plastics Europe, 2013). Despite the increased environmental concerns, still most of today’s synthetic polymers are produced from petrochemicals. Because of their lack of biodegradability, petroleum-based products result in major waste disposal problems in certain areas. Moreover, the continuing use of oil resources implies an inevitable decrease in availability accompanied with increasing costs. Sustainable packaging is a topic that attracts great interest not only from the industry but also from the government and consumers. It can refer to many different aspects like the reduction of packaging material, the use of recycling packaging, or the use of materials with a lower ecological footprint.

According to the European Bioplastics association there are three types of bioplastics: (1) bioderived and biodegradable/compostable, (2) fossil-fuel derived and biodegradable, and (3) bioderived and nonbiodegradable. In this chapter the first category of bioplastics is discussed (Johansson et al., 2012). Use of such materials is advantageous since biobased materials reduce the depletion of finite fossil resources and CO₂ emissions while their compostability offers environmental benefits in the end-of-life phase (Molenveld et al., 2015). In this context, polymers obtained from renewable recourses or utilization of agro-industrial and marine wastes are considered as a promising alternative. Nowadays, their use seems even more attractive since scientific advances over the last decade have diminished the costs of converting organic material into platform chemicals that can supply other manufacturing streams like polymers. The interest is so great that several national and international research projects have been performed in Europe and others are still in progress with a focus on the potentials of biomaterials for packaging applications. Examples are SustainPack, SustainComp, SUNPAP, FlexPakRenew, Bio-mimetic, and n-chitopak (Johansson et al., 2012).

As illustrated in Fig. 9.1 biobased materials used in packaging technology can be divided into three main categories based on their origin, chemical nature, and means of production. It should be noted that the physical properties of packaging play a dominant role in the selection of an appropriate polymer and can be broadly classified in the following four categories (Alavi et al., 2015):

• thermal: heat capacity, thermal conductivity, melting temperature, and glass transition temperature

• mechanical: tensile properties and tear strength

• barrier: diffusion, solubility, and permeability

• optical: gloss, haze, and transparency

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of innovative uses of biobased packaging in the field of the food industry and provide information on the relevant regulatory aspects and safety considerations.

9.2. Novel Biobased Plastics

According to the plastic industry sector’s projections by 2020 the most important biopolymers that are both biobased and biodegradable include starch and its derivatives, poly(lactic acid), (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with amounts up to 1.3, 0.8, and 0.4 Mt, respectively (Imre and Pukanszky, 2013). Regarding the range of applications of biodegradable polymers used in the food industry, it includes disposable cutlery, cups, plates, trays, overwrap and laminated films, and containers.

9.2.1. Starch and Starch Blends

Starch is the one of the most abundant natural (plant-derived) polysaccharides. Its granules can vary in shape, size, structure, and chemical composition depending on its origin, but in all cases it consists of two main macromolecular species, amylose and amylopectin, differing in fine structure and properties (Biliaderis, 2009; Jimenez et al., 2012). As a packaging material starch alone cannot form films with adequate mechanical and diffusion-controlled physical properties unless it undergoes certain pretreatment such as plasticization with small molecular weight–compatible constituents, blending, or chemical modification (Alavi et al., 2015). For example, thermoplastic starch can be produced by processing a starch–plasticizer blend in an extruder at temperatures of between 140 and 160°C under high pressure and shear. The presence of plasticizers, apart from water, is essential in order to obtain a rubbery material without brittleness (Jimenez et al., 2012). The Italian company Novamont is the leader in this field with its line Master-Bi (www.novamont.com) while other companies of interest are Plantic (www.plantic.com.au) and Rodenburg biopolymers (www.biopolymers.com) launching the lines Eco Plastic and Solanyl, respectively. Commercially, starch-based packaging has been previously used by companies such as McDonald’s or in high profile international events like the Olympic games of 2012. Moreover, outdoor events often feature “green” disposable cups, plates, and cutlery made from starch-based plastics (Johansson et al., 2012).

Figure 9.1 Biologically derived materials used for biopolymer-based packaging. Adapted from Cutter, C.N., 2006. Opportunities for bio-based packaging technologies to improve the quality and safety of fresh and further processed muscle foods. Meat Science 74, 131–142.

Interestingly, it has been demonstrated that for the production of starch plastic granules, 25–75% less energy is required and the greenhouse emissions are 20–80% l...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Part A. Innovation Strategies and Long Term R & D for the Food Industry
• Part B. Development of Innovations in the Food Industry
• Part C. Cutting Edge Innovation Areas in the Food Science
• Part D. Conclusions and Perspectives
• Index